International expert group defines principles on rankings of higher education institutions

The Centre for Higher Education Development (CHE) hosted the second meeting of the “International Ranking Expert Group” (IREG) in Berlin.

In order to set minimum standards for the quality of rankings, the International Ranking Expert Group (IREG) has compiled in Berlin international principles on rankings of higher education institutions. These 16 principles comprise the goals and target groups of rankings, the selection and design of indicators, the acquisition of data as well as the publication of ranking results. The expert group was set up in Washington in 2004 and is co-ordinated by UNESCO-CEPES (Bucharest), the Institute for Higher Education Policy in Washington, D.C. and the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHE).

In the past years, rankings of higher education institutions have emerged in a variety of countries world-wide. In parts, they differ significantly with respect to their goals, indicators and methods – and last but not least in quality. Against this background, minimum standards are an important stage of development. CHE director Detlef Müller-Böling: “The developed standards help users to separate the wheat from the chaff, whenever a new ranking is published. Providers, however, may use them in order to meet approved standards. The CHE ranking is strongly in line with the developed principles.”

The International Ranking Expert Group in Berlin (Photo: David Ausserhofer).

The CHE hosted the second meeting of the International Ranking Expert Group (IREG) in Berlin. Providers of higher education rankings and acclaimed scientists of research projects on higher education rankings have gathered to help improve rankings by international exchange. The Berlin contributions discussed various approaches to ranking and methodical issues. Thus, new ranking approaches from the Ukraine and Romania were introduced. One such contribution was devoted to the analysis and comparison of 18 different rankings from a multitude of countries with respect to methodical strengths and weaknesses. Questions on the influence of rankings on access to higher education and on reputation indicators in higher education rankings were also on the meeting’s agenda.